Foaming of PCL/clay nanocomposites with supercritical CO2 mixtures: The effect of nanocomposite fabrication route on the clay dispersion and the final porous structure

Epoxy-clay nanocomposites were prepared by high shear mixing method using Nanomer I.30E nanoclay as nano-reinforcement in diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA). The effect of mixing speed and time on the nature and degree of clay dispersion were investigated by varying the mixing speed in the range of 500-8000 RPM and mixing time in the range of 15-90 minutes. The effect of degassing temperature on the morphology of the resultant nanocomposites was also studied. Scanning and transmission microscopy (SEM & TEM) along with x-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used to characterize the effect of shear mixing speed, mixing time and degassing temperature on the structure of the resultant nanocomposites. The SEM, TEM and XRD examinations demonstrated that the degree of clay dispersion was improved with increasing the high shear mixing speed and mixing time. The results showed that the optimum high shear mixing speed and mixing time were 6000 rpm and 60 min, respectively. It was observed that the structure of the nanocomposites that have been degassed at 65oC was dominated by ordered intercalated morphology while disordered intercalated with some exfoliated morphology was found for the sample degassed at 100oC for the first 2 hours of the degassing process.

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Quantitative characterization of clay dispersion in polypropylene-clay nanocomposites by combined transmission electron microscopy and optical microscopy

Materials Letters ◽

10.1016/j.matlet.2009.10.042 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 64 (2) ◽

pp. 185-188 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Shaobo Xie ◽

Eileen Harkin-Jones ◽

Yucai Shen ◽

Peter Hornsby ◽

Marion McAfee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽

Optical Microscopy ◽

Clay Nanocomposites ◽

Quantitative Characterization ◽

Clay Dispersion ◽

Transmission Electron

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Multifunctional Epoxy/Nanocomposites Based on Natural Moroccan Clays with High Antimicrobial Activity: Morphological, Thermal and Mechanical Properties

Journal of Nanomaterials ◽

10.1155/2019/2810901 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

M. Monsif ◽

A. Zerouale ◽

N. Idrissi Kandri ◽

R. Bertani ◽

A. Bartolozzi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Antimicrobial Activity ◽

Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy ◽

Environmental Scanning ◽

Clay Nanocomposites ◽

Mechanical And Thermal Properties ◽

Clay Dispersion ◽

Mechanical Stirring ◽

Antimicrobial Materials ◽

Transmission Electron

In this study, a series of new epoxy/clay nanocomposites (ECN) has been prepared and characterized in order to investigate the properties and compare the effect of the unmodified Moroccan clay on the structure and properties of the composite materials. Five natural clays have been used to reinforce the neat epoxy resin with 1% wt and 5% wt achieving the clay dispersion only through strong milling and mechanical stirring without previous organic modifications of the clays. The quality of clay dispersion in the epoxy matrix and the morphology of nanocomposites have been studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The mechanical and thermal properties have also been investigated. The antimicrobial activity of the nanocomposites has been tested against E. coli and S. aureus in order to evaluate their applicability as advanced antimicrobial materials. The results showed that the epoxy/crude clay nanocomposites exhibited a high inhibition action attending 99% against both bacteria in the case of the clay labeled A5.

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